AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Carbon moves from plants and animals to soils. When plants and animals die, their bodies, wood and leaves decays bringing the carbon into the ground. Some is buried and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years.

Detailed explanation-2: -This dead organic matter creates food for microbes, which respire and create carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere. When plants or the soil are burned, this also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Detailed explanation-3: -These are the reservoirs, or sinks, through which carbon cycles. Carbon is released back into the atmosphere when organisms die, volcanoes erupt, fires blaze, fossil fuels are burned, and through a variety of other mechanisms.

Detailed explanation-4: -When the animals die, they decompose, and their remains become sediment, trapping the stored carbon in layers that eventually turn into rock or minerals. Some of this sediment might form fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, or natural gas, which release carbon back into the atmosphere when the fuel is burned.